1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system, a device, a program and a method for executing an output process by an output device having a power saving mode and, more specifically, to an output system, a printing system, a printing device management device, a printing device and a printing device management program, a printing device control program, and a printing method which are preferable for achieving both quick starting of the output process (such as printing) and power savings in an authentication output system.
2. Related Art
As a printing system provided with a security function, for example, an authentication printing system in which a user authentication device is provided in the vicinity of a network printer, so that the network printer starts printing when the user transmits a printing job from a host terminal to the user authentication device and then swipes an authentication card through the user authentication device.
In the authentication printing system in the related art, if the network printer is in the power-saving state, the network printer is kept in the power-saving state until the printing job is handed to an interpreter of the network printer. In such a case, the start of the printing process is delayed by the time (a duration) required for the warming-up process, and hence the user is obliged to wait for the printing process. On the other hand, in order to keep the warmed up state for starting the printing process quickly, consumption of a certain amount of power is necessary, which causes economical/environmental burden.
JP-A-2004-272596 discloses a technology to start the printing process quickly by a network printer having a power saving mode. The invention of JP-A-2004-272596 is the technology in which a warm up command is issued to the network printer registered in advance when a remote output button provided on a print set operation panel, whereby the network printer is warmed up.
However, when the invention disclosed in JP-A-2004-272596 is applied to the authentication printing system, the following problems arise.
Since the user authentication device is adapted to retain a printing job in the authentication printing system, there may be a case in which printing is not started immediately after the printing job is transmitted from the host terminal by the user, and the user authentication is performed after a while and then the printing process is executed. Therefore, even when the network printer is warmed up while the print set operation panel is operated on the host terminal as in the case of the invention disclosed in JP-A-2004-272596, power is wasted as long as it takes time from the transmission of the printing job until the user authentication is performed.
Information processing equipment and consumer electronics are recently configured in such a manner that power consumption is reduced by automatically halting functions of equipment when the equipment is not used for a certain period from the completion of usage of the equipment based on environmental standards such as the international energy program (ENERGY STAR).
However, when the network printer used for the authentication printing system is configured so that the warmed up state is maintained for a certain period after completing the printing process as described above, a state in which printing can be started immediately is maintained even though it is clear that the printing output will not be made. Therefore, power is consumed correspondingly, which causes economical/environmental burden.
Such a problem is assumed to occur not only when printing is performed by the network printer, but also when a display output device such as a projector or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is connected to the network for achieving display on the display output device.